General Question

I'm desperate for new music. Would you please make some suggestions for me?

Lately I’ve been obsessed with Death Cab for Cutie’s “Narrow Stairs” and The Shins’ “Wincing the Night Away” and “Oh, Inverted World.”

Before that it was Coldplay, “Viva la Vida”, “X&Y” and “Parachutes”.

Before that it was Patrick Parks “Everyone’s in Everyone” and before that it was Ingrid Michaelson, Joshua Radin, Rosh Ritter and William Fitzsimmons.

I’ve sort of been getting into the techno rave kind of stuff like The Basshunters, Dizzee Rascal, Kid Cudi, Global Deejays, The Ian Carey project etc but I really only have random songs that I’ve stolen from my friends ipod.

My all time favourites include Cat Stevens, Iron Maiden, Modest Mouse, Pink Floyd, and The Police.

I also love The Beautiful Girls, Angus and Julia Stone, The Hives, Elliot Smith, Blue King Brown and the list goes on, I’m also partial to a bit of death and black metal.

But I’m sick of listening to the same old stuff, I usually listen to an album over and over for a while before I move onto the next one but after Death Cab and the Shins I haven’t found anything new to listen to.

Nico Stai. He/they is/are pretty cool (I don’t know if it’s a band or a guy). The music is mellow and sweet kinda like death cab. If you like Iron Maiden, try Children of Bodom. It’s not the same style of metal, but I like Maiden and I love Children of Bodom.

If your all time faves are those bands, check out some Classic Rock.
Or download David Bowie. Everyone can find at least one David Bowie song to love. His style changes every few years throughout his career, you’ll never get bored.

Or for something completely different, do what I’m doing – working my way through this. :)

I’m not much into techno/rave, and I’m not a Coldplay fan, but most of this stuff I listen to. Now you may know a lot of these or you may not, but let me give you a few suggestions.

In terms of metal, though I’m personally more into Black than Death (too much of Death Metal is unintelligible), I’m going to say that there are a number of things you could try. First off, all Metal really starts with Black Sabbath, and though I’m partial to the Ozzy years, Dio is currently touring with them under the name Heaven and Hell, they’ve released some new material in this incarnation, and there are a ton of albums from the past…for my money, metal doesn’t get any blacker than Sabbath.

Now if you like your metal hardcore and fast (which the Hives tips me off that you do), you might consider some Motorhead, and if you like a little grunge tinge to your metal, check out some Melvins. Then of course there is Thrash Metal, which essentially has 4 Gods, Megadeth, Metallica, Slayer and Anthrax. I’m partial to earlier Metallica and later era Anthrax myself (I prefer John Bush’s singing style, but given your penchant for Iron Maiden, you might well prefer Joey Belladona’s pre-1991 Anthrax). Then of course there were the thrash bands which had some great music, but who were overlooked by the mainstream….I’m thinking Overkill, Sepultura, Biohazard.

Of course, what would Thrash have been without a little bit of Suicidal Tendencies, or some of the offshoots, such as singer Mike Muir’s solo albums (under the moniker Cyco Miko), or his funk metal outfit (think a heavier and more funk driven Faith No More), the Infectious Grooves. And speaking of Faith No More, you can always follow singer Mike Patton’s career, which encompasses some pretty far out stuff like Mr. Bungle, and slightly more accessible metal like Tomahawk and Peeping Tom.

Then there is the whole area of Groove Metal, and one band I really like in this realm is Cathedral. But when you’re talking groove metal, no one can compare to Pantera, the heaviest band to come out of Texas since the much overlooked Rigor Mortis, who for my money put out some of the best Death Metal that ever existed, because it actually had some melody to it, as did a number of late 80s/early 90s death metal bands like Lawnmower Deth (there is a great compilation CD of Earache records artists that came out in ‘89 called Grind Crusher…good luck finding a copy, but used CD stores and maybe bit torrents can help you). Of course every now and then I give up on my having to be able to understand the lyrics and just for the sheer over the top aspects of it I’ll listen to a little Cannibal Corpse. And of course, even though it’s not a “real” band, Dethklok has some very engaging Death Metal.

Now I have a personal favorite band that is not extremely well known, but I have to mention them because I think you will dig them, because you seem to like pop vocal styles, but you also like a heavier edge. The band is called Enuff Z’Nuff, and they do the best melodic metal I’ve ever heard. Now they get (unfairly) lumped into glam as they put out their first album at the tail end of the 80s, but their best work doesn’t really resemble the Motley Crues or the Warrants or the Wingers or any of that big hair, party down pop metal. Now I will say that there were definitely SOME bands in the 80s who still ring true to me today, Dokken would be a great example, and I think the style may be somewhat akin to the Maiden/Priest style. I have another fave from the early 80’s called Kick Axe, who never really went anywhere but who released a couple of killer metal albums that any Maiden fan would enjoy. Kix is another great, underrated metal band from that era, and I’ll also throw Great White in there, but I consider them to be more a rock and roll band, like an AC/DC.

Now if balls out rock and roll ala AC/DC is your style, you can’t go wrong with a Canadian band called Danko Jones…to me it sounds like AC/DC got in a fistfight with Kiss. I could go on forever, but let me thorw a few other faves in.

Now switching gears, one of the common threads in some of the stuff I see that isn’t metal or techo has an emphasis on strong vocal stylings. Don’t forget legends like Queen, anyone who likes Death Cab, HAS to like Freddie Mercury I would think. The Travelling Wilbury’s were great, but short lived, a supergroup greater than the sum of its parts. For sheer vocal elegance, no one can compare to Elvis Costello, and let me say that Prince is a rock God for a reason. A particular favorite of mine for simple song structures and a clear Beatles influence (and again, if you like some of the stuff you say you like, you can’t go wrong with the Beatles either), would be The Smithereens.

So, start there, and if there’s anything you haven’t heard on this list, check it out.